Jennie Geisler: Fall mushrooms add deep flavors

Jennie Geisler More Content Now

Wednesday

Oct 11, 2017 at 10:28 AMOct 11, 2017 at 10:28 AM

So I have this friend. Well, let me back up. I HAD this friend named Don King (no not the boxing guy, just an unfortunately named but funny and highly intelligent Gen Xer guy) in high school. We doubled the night of our senior prom. I went with a different guy, who was friends with Don and Don went with a friend of mine, and I’m getting off track here.

OK, so, through the magic of Facebook, I found out, about a year ago, that Don is an art teacher at Kent State University AND an accomplished self-taught chef, local food enthusiast and wild mushroom hunter. He has a regular gig talking about cooking and wild mushrooms on a Cleveland news magazine show on Fox 8.

He wins culinary awards and stuff, and I’ve been cavorting around with him for some time now. I met up with him and did a one-on-one mushroom hunt last fall, but didn’t find much, for some reason. I went to a sourdough bread class he taught over the winter. And Sept. 29-Oct. 1, I and a half a dozen others like me camped out with him in Ravenna, Ohio, and did four mushroom hikes between meals.

Again, we found no mushrooms. I’m starting to think I’m bad luck, but he said it was more likely because the two weeks before Fall Mushroom Camp were the hottest and driest end of September in memory. Fall mushrooms, such as chicken of the woods and oyster mushrooms, prefer damp, cool conditions to sprout, and everything we found would have been delicious — a week before we found it.

Don was pretty down about it, and gave us all credit to come on another one-day mushroom hunt he has coming up. I might go, but I’d hung my hat on mushrooms for this column, so I went hunting at Wegmans instead.

Five things I learned:1. First DO NOT GO OUT IN THE WOODS LOOKING FOR MUSHROOMS WITHOUT HELP from someone who knows what they’re doing. Exhibit A: The only fresh mushrooms that we DID find on our hunts that weekend were toxic — deadly galerina — as in kidney-and-liver-failure-within-24-hours toxic. They are bright orange and have gills and don’t eat them.

Don learned how to mushroom hunt from someone who knew what he was doing. I’ve been out with him for a total of 10 hours now and have a pictorial guide, and there are comprehensive field guides you can buy. But I still wouldn’t eat anything without advice from him or someone like him. Naturalists at Tom Ridge Environmental Center sometimes do mushroom walks. There is a Western Pennsylvania Mushroom Club, and it has a website, www.wpamushroomclub.org. I’m thinking of joining.

2. If you don’t have anyone like Don, stick with the grocery store. I was impressed by the selection available when I went looking for what I needed for this column. No one had fresh chanterelles, but had dried ones and Don said those are fine. You just soak them until they’re soft, about 30 minutes to an hour. They had fresh oyster mushrooms and dried, so I bought both to see how they worked. Fun guys. (Sorry.)

3. If you’re wondering why anyone would go to such trouble to find mushrooms in the woods versus in the produce section, or spend more on weird-looking ones versus regular white button mushrooms, all I can say is you’d have to try them. I used to think I hated mushrooms. Then I realized I hated canned mushrooms. Real, honest-to-God fungi, such as hen of the woods, cook up with so much flavor, you’d think you’re eating steak, or smoky pork.

The Mushroom Soup here was so satisfying, John and I needed nothing else for dinner. If you know what “umami” is, this has it in spades. It’s a Japanese word roughly translated to “the flavor of cooked meat.” Carnivores don’t believe it til they’ve tried it. Mushrooms also tend to amplify the other flavors in a dish, such as herbs and spices, onions and heady cheeses.

4. Since I’m not as familiar with wild mushrooms as Don, I asked him to describe their flavors. His response queued my stomach rumbling: “Oysters (oyster mushrooms) are mild and nutty; chanterelles are earthy and fruity; chicken of the woods are meaty and slightly sour; hen of the woods are earthy and meaty; and tooth fungi are mild and sweet, reminiscent of seafood,” he said.

Me. Want. More.

5. I made the chicken broth for the risotto out of the carcass of a whole chicken I roasted the previous Sunday. I’d stripped the carcass and thrown the skeleton, giblets and aromatics in the freezer that day. I tossed that and a few carrots and celery in a big pot, filled it to cover with water and boiled it while I did everything else I had going on. Then I strained the solids out and used the broth to make the risotto. It worked out pretty well. I froze the broth I didn’t need in 1-cup containers.

You can, by the way, do the same thing with a couple of rotisserie chickens. Just saying.Chanterelle Crepes with Mascarpone and Caramelized OnionsServes 4For onions:2 large onions2 tablespoons unsalted butterCut 2 large onions in half, and then into 1/8 inch slices. In a large saute pan (cast iron or stainless steel — nonstick doesn’t work as well), heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat, then add onions and toss to coat. Continue cooking for about 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally. When the onions are done, deglaze the pan with water, white wine or stock, scraping the browned bits from the pan and mixing into onions. Set aside.

For mushrooms:½ pound fresh chanterelles or other mushrooms, cut or broken into bite-sized pieces, see note1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or any oil with a high smoke point)1 shallot, diced2-3 sprigs fresh thyme

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and shallot. Cook for one minute and add the mushrooms and thyme sprigs. Cook until mushrooms are seared and tender, about 10 minutes, stirring often. Remove thyme.

Whisk together eggs, milk, and salt, then whisk in flour. Batter should be the consistency of heavy cream. If it’s too thick, add a little more milk. Whisk in melted butter. Heat crepe pan (or medium nonstick skillet) over medium heat. Brush pan with butter and add about ¼ cup batter to center of pan, swirling so it coats the bottom. Cook until the bottom is lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Flip crepe and brown the other side, about 1 minute more. Keep warm. Crepes can be refrigerated for a day or two or frozen for later use.

To build crepes:1 cup mascarpone

Spoon ¼ cup mascarpone into each crepe, followed by a generous spoonful of mushrooms and caramelized onions. Roll crepe by folding in two opposite sides about 2 inches, and then folding leftover sides about 1/3 of the way, leaving a rectangular-shaped crepe.Serving suggestion: Top with freshly chopped herbs or a simple salad with vinaigrette.— Don King

Note: If fresh chanterelles are unavailable, but you can find dried ones, those can be reconstituted in a bowl covered with water for 30 minutes to an hour. Drain and chop.Nutrition information per crepe without greens: 483 calories; 38 g fat (19 g saturated); 201 mg sodium; 23 g carbohydrate; 1.8 g fiber; 5.3 g sugar; 5.3 g protein